It started 19 years ago, when a ceramic cow with its front legs hanging over the edge of her mom's microwave oven inspired Denise Tubangui.
She bought one like it, then another cow collectible, and another and another: salt and pepper shakers, hanging cow chimes, coffee cups, ashtrays, a mail box, slippers, socks, a rain slicker ...
Some of her fans call her "cow gal," and clients of her La Petite Hair Shoppe never have trouble figuring out a gift for her: cows.
She lives close to historic San Jacinto dairies but doesn't own a live cow because her tract home neighborhood isn't zoned for the four-hoofed bovines.
"But I do have a miniature pot-bellied pig that looks like a cow," she said, before introducing visitors to 5-month-old Dolly, who has a cow-like black coat with white splotches.
Tubangui reached a milestone last month when the Guinness World Records sent her a certificate recognizing her 2,261 items as a cow collection world record. And she continues adding.
The Guinness process took about five months and included a 14-page application, 96 pictures and witness statements, she said. She joins the ranks of those who the Guinness Web site has recognized, including collectors of airplane sick bags, key chains and penguins.
Tubangui, 50, has moved her collection only once, when she brought 800 items from Lakewood to San Jacinto. "I visited a friend out here and saw all the dairies and just fell in love," she said.
The main showcase for her collection is a converted bedroom with shelving on the walls and her oldest acquisitions in tall oak cabinets. She refers to a second bedroom as her "cow overflow." Items are displayed throughout the house, including her beauty salon, which has a separate entrance.
There may be a collector gene in the family. Monkeys decorate her 10-year-old granddaughter's room.
Jan Murdock, 70, of Valle Vista, has known Tubangui for at least 18 years and worked with her at a Ford big rig dealership in Santa Fe Springs. Back then, "She was the cow lady, she loved cows," and kept collectibles in the office, Murdock said by phone.
"She moved out here first. She fell in love with all the cows out here. That was one of her reasons for moving," said Murdock, who moved to Valle Vista, east of Hemet, to be closer to family.
Client Sally Henningfeld, 74, of Hemet, met Tubangui when she was in beauty school. "She is like a daughter to me," she said. Henningfeld's additions to her hairdresser's collection include a welcome sign and a Beanie Baby.
Tubangui gets giddy when she gives cow collection tours and is amenable to modeling her cow costume -- it won her a second place in a costume contest. One of her prize possessions, given by friends, is a life-size plastic black and white calf.
Items from real cows include a cow dung patty encased in black and white splotched paint so it doesn't smell, and a cow jawbone.
Signs inside and outside and murals she painted in her garage have sayings like: "Happy cows come from San Jacinto" and "Welcome family, friends and udders."
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